Document shredding isn’t just for people working in an office! If you run a business out of your home, you are still expected to conform with all the same record-keeping and record-destroying regulations that larger operations must follow. A company like Hot Shred can offer plenty of assistance with this. It’s not just a load off your shoulders, it’s an insurance policy that helps ensure you won’t face legal action over improper document handling.

If you’re still taking care of all your own documents, here are a few reasons to consider hiring a professional document shredding service to take over the job.

Three Reasons Home Businesses Need a Professional Document Destruction Service

1 – Home shredders simply don’t cut it.

If you have a shredder in your office, it’s probably one of those simple models that only shred the document into long strips. Sad to say, that’s just not good enough. If someone was motivated to steal information on your business or your customers, they could get access to your trash and reconstruct the documents jigsaw-style without too much effort.

At the bare minimum, documents need to be destroyed using a cross-cutting system that reduces them to tiny confetti-like diamond pieces, to be considered truly unrecoverable.

2 – Hard drives are harder to destroy than you might think.

Dragging a file into your Windows/Mac trashcan does not destroy that file. Running a DOS or Unix “delete” command does not destroy that file. There are many, many ways to recover files which have been “deleted” from hard drives. Generally, it requires high-grade equipment – such as large magnetic degaussers – to truly destroy digital files. Or, for solid state drives, they need to be physically destroyed.

This is potentially dangerous work with ecological ramifications, and best left to professionals.

3 – You get documentation of destruction

Depending on your line of work, or the needs of your clients, you may be called upon to produce hard proof that certain files were destroyed. You, by yourself, simply cannot produce such documentation – but a professional service can. Notarized Certificates of Destruction are the proof you need whenever challenged in court or by regulatory bodies.

Protect Yourself – Get Professional Document Shredding

There’s no need for you to try to understand all the laws and regulations surrounding document destruction. Professional services are discrete, affordable, and keep your interests protected. Contact Hot Shred to learn more.

If you’ve got data stored on a standard hard drive (and who doesn’t) at some time, you’re going to want to destroy the information on it. This is true even of private individuals – a lot of your personal data is on there! For businesses, it’s even more vital, given the regulations surrounding data retention. Many choose to hire a hard disk destruction service like Hot Shred, rather than deal with it personally.

Still, there are a lot of ways to destroy a hard drive – some can even be a fun project. Here are a few ideas.

Five Ways to Destroy That Hard Drive

Fundamentally, destroying a hard drive means destroying the platter at its core, which is a silver disc that looks somewhat like a CD/DVD. That’s where the data is held. Everything else is casing and read/write technology.

1 – The teardown

This is simple, basic, and a little boring. Get yourself a set of screwdrivers, and get to work tearing the hard drive apart piece by piece until you reach the platter. One warning: you’ll find a very strong magnet inside the case. Be careful with this! It’s not the sort of magnet you want to leave lying around, as it could easily damage fingers. Or pets. Or children.

2 – Sledgehammer!

This is possibly the most fun option: take that hard drive to a hard surface, like a concrete driveway, get a large hammer, and go to town. Play some gangster rap while you’re at it. Don’t forget to wear gloves and eye protection!

3 – Target practice

Like #2, but with more firepower. If sidearms or shotguns are your thing, one or two good shots are guaranteed to render the platter unreadable. As always, follow proper weapons safety procedures and do this far away from any bystanders.

4 – Demagnetization

Despite the presence of a magnet in the case, hard drives are susceptible to magnetic fields. If you wanted to ruin the data, without damaging the drive physically, a strong rare earth-style magnet would do the trick. A hard disk destruction service may prefer this option.

5 – The Full Press

Finally, if you want total destruction and have access to a pneumatic or hydraulic machine press, it’s guaranteed to absolutely ruin the drive – and leave you with a neat souvenir suitable for framing.